BREAKING: An Accident Has Occurred on the Disney Skyliner at Riviera Resort Station

Tom Corless

Updated on:

2019 Skyliner Accident

BREAKING: An Accident Has Occurred on the Disney Skyliner at Riviera Resort Station

Our original report is below including many photos. For newer posts with updated information, visit:

UPDATE: Disney Skyliner Gondola System to Remain Closed at Walt Disney World for Undetermined Period Following Accident

PHOTOS: Disney Skyliner Epcot Line Resumes Motion Facilitating Faster Evacuation Procedure

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Evacuation Process Underway Following Disney Skyliner Accident


Original report, published Saturday, October 5, 2019, at 9:39PM EDT.

While not much is known at this time, an accident has occurred aboard the Disney Skyliner transportation system at the Riviera Resort Station.

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Image Credit: @Ada58974405 on Twitter
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Image Credit: @Ada58974405 on Twitter

A pile of broken plexiglass is seen scattered on the floor beneath the gondola in the short clip above.

The photograph shows a pileup of gondolas at the Riviera Resort Disney Skyliner Station heading towards Epcot. An Instagram post from a guest stuck on the Skyliner indicates that they have been stuck in the air for over an hour already:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Qg5KKACw3/?igshid=11wu03cujp84f

Another angle of the incident was found on twitter:

Evacuations are currently underway as emergency crews clear out each gondola individually.

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Image via @regina_gzz on Instagram.

Stretchers are being seen rolled out near the evacuation site.

We will keep you updated as more on this breaking story becomes available. Disney reports that no guests were injured in the accident.

If you’re new to the Disney Skyliner system, it opened just this past Sunday, September 29th to mixed reviews. Early images of inside emergency black box kits revealed that the kits contained glow sticks, packaged water, and human waste containers.

Featured Image: @Ada58974405 on Twitter

161 thoughts on “BREAKING: An Accident Has Occurred on the Disney Skyliner at Riviera Resort Station”

  1. Used the system three times to Epcot and got stuck on every single run, once for 25 minutes. Clearly something is wrong and they decided to run them anyway! Those poor people stuck in the sky better be well compensated.

    • Why is it always about “compensation”? As long as no one was injured,…
      Doesn’t a apology mean anything anymore

      • That’s funny because right before the article says Disney says ‘no guests were injured’, the article stated that the emergency crew were bringing in STRETCHERS to the evacuation point. In my experience with emergencies, they only bring out stretchers when there is someone INJURED. And yes compensation should be given if Disney knew their ride was malfunctioning but allowed it to be operational anyway, all because Disney wanted money from their guest. Had this been more deadly, apologizes nor money will bring back loved ones.

        • My friend is an EMT, every time there is any kind of emergency evacuation like that they bring stretchers just in case so they don’t have to waste time going back to get them if they need them. Just like they roll fire, EMT, and police to accidents that get reported to 911 just in case. Thankfully this time it was just for precaution.

    • Compesated?? Why does every small mishap, people think about compensation, above all else. You are nothing but greedy

      • Small mishap… really they were stuck in the air for hours and apparently no one even got on a intercom to let them know what was going on. What if one of them had diabetes. There blood sugar could of dropped. This probably ruined there really expensive vacations. should be compensated for not taking care of there equipment apparently people were having problems with it earlier and they didnt take care of it.

        • which is what happened to me. i was stuck on there for 3 hours. i was rushed to celebration hospital and did not get released till like4:30 am

    • Does everything in life have to be about compensation.. cant shit just happen without expecting something in return

      • The system isn’t supposed to pause any cars in mid air because of loading. The system was designed to decouple he cars in the loading area while the other cars on the system continue to run. At least that is the theory that they have had for the system. Of course the real problem is that the system was designed in countries that don’t have the ADA which means they don’t have to decouple cars for extended periods while someone is wheeled on a very slow whale cart, I doubt they took into account that extra time requirement which is why you have the lines continually stopping in mid transit. If they didn’t have to hold up for wheel chairs and whale carts they wouldn’t have the same problems because most people can walk on and off of gondola like this very quickly.

    • Why is everything about compensation these days. Wake up and stop being so greedy. Shame on you. Such a low-class way of thinking.

      • A day at Disney is incredibly expensive, and people save and plan their time months in advance to make it a great experience. Then an attraction breaks, they’re scared, they’re hot, it’s miserable. Why shouldn’t the park extend a little goodwill, as acknowledgement of the trouble?? It’s just good business.

  2. Looks like something big. Walked past about 10 min ago, one cart missing from the five or so docked at the station outside Intl Gateway at Epcot. LOTS of upper level managers up on the platform in a group and talking. Three EMTs by the empty car space but not doing much… Stretcher off to the side with med supplies on top, but not being used.

  3. I was on the skyline just last night. The cars/ Gondolas come into the station very fast and stop quickly but smoothly leaving just about 1 foot to spare from the car in front of us. It was a told to us several times by Disney employees that “you’ll feel like you’re crash but at the last minute the car will slow.”. We braced ourselves Everytime but never felt in danger. I feel so terrible for those in the accident.

    • This is “arrival” approach is no different from the thousands of other gondola systems in the world… Not sure how Disney already messed this up.

  4. Well this is why I don’t have a pathetic need to go on things that are newly released to brag about it. Issues happen when things are so new.

    • I was just thinking about how there’s no way that Greg Snids would have ever been caught up in this pathetic crap!

    • Maybe many people do need to use them because it’s easier for them than walking. You should know that people always think that whatever bad that could happen, just won’t ever happen to them. But WDW had previously problems before and hoped it wouldn’t get out?! Let me guess, they had these things looked into and everything seems fine UNTIL someone gets stuck and God forbid hurt on one! Smh. Spend the money and fix what’s wrong or DON’T let people use these! Man up to the fact that they don’t work. Take down and fix them. If not fixable, take down completely. There was your 3 step guide to Safety First, Money Last! Or here’s a senerio, Someone gets hurt so bad; either mammed for Life, Coma, or Death. None of these choice’s should even be on the list. Safety First, paying Customers First.. PERIOD!

    • Having said that, these are usually the same folks who wants major compensation for the “trauma” of being stuck. Things happen…get over yourselves.

    • Just because somebody wants to experience the new installation, that doesn’t make them “pathetic”. Where do you get off? The only “pathetic” one here is the one making assumptions about people he dosen’t know.

  5. We were literally just there and rode it to and from Hollywood Studios on the 29th. Hopefully everything and everyone is okay

  6. We’ve ridden them many times this week and have absolutely loved them! We will likely ride them tomorrow if they are back open.

    • I’d be surprised and honestly a bit nervous if they WERE open tomorrow after this. I’d hope they’d stop service for at least a couple days to work out what happened before they started letting more people on.

    • You are going to ride them tomorrow? Even after reading this article? What are you thinking? That would put you in danger. Clearly those things aren’t stable enough yet and were in a crash! I mean, you just read an article about how they crashed and your first thought is “I hope they are open tomorrow so I can ride them”? Some people just like putting themselves in danger smh.

    • GOod for you. Wonder if you would if you where stuck on one for a hour. They need to put money into the monorails not this shit.

  7. This is what happens when Disney takes the cheap way out with these eyesores instead of expanding and upgrading the monorail system.

    • There’s actually a very valid reason why Disney will NEVER upgrade the monorail system. Look it up. YouTube has a great video on it

    • And you would have complained that your tickets are too expensive due to the price increase to pay for the upgraded monorail. And heaven forbid Disney tries something new!

      • These aren’t new they tried these in the 80’s and they failed they have more then enough money to upgrade the monorail and stop believing everything that’s on YouTube speically from theme park enthusiasts who know literally nothing half the time Disney tried these in magic kingdom in the 80’s and failed badly

  8. Was stranded on the end trip, as the skyline was closed for the night, but we were assured that we could get a trip back. The Boardwalk hotel got us a complimentary ride back with Mears. It was more or less an “oh well, we’re closed” get out!

    • Relax, it’s an accident. These things happen all the time. Yes it’s very unfortunate but luckily there are no injuries. So many rides have issues on day to day basis at Disney. It’s mechanical built by humans. You try

      • Here’s the point: I’m no longer going to spend $5,000 a trip to walk around a half thought through STAR Wars mall and be crushed by a transport system and then spend an hour in a hot mess of people watching a sentimental fireworks show. Raise the prices to reduce crowds and upgrade the entertainment.

  9. So this was our first experience riding the skyliner…
    My wife and I were on the yellow car pinned into the aqua car on the photos above. It wasn’t a crash.. it was a crushing. The system was down for around 10 minutes and we were sitting in the car while a cast member was going around to cars doing a Disney trivia game with us all. When the system came back on, the aqua car didn’t move, we crushed up against it and the cars behind us crushed into us. You could here the plexiglass breaking and the metal on metal. They freed us up fairly quickly, but it was a sudden drop and loud. I know at least 3 of the cars were damaged, our doors were bent up and the vented glass was broken. Luckily we were at Riviera turnstile so we were evacuated quickly.

    • We were stuck in a gondola right before the water heading into Epcot station for 3 hours. Greeted with water and told theres 2 bathrooms to stand in line for. Then we asked how to get back to our resort. Told go to Boardwalk hotel and they would have special bus waiting. Get to Boardwalk – no one knew anything about buses and stranded people couldn’t even get ubers because they shut roads down. Finally after 30 minutes we were able to get on a bus back to our resort. Definitely stressful situation and poorly handled afterwards.

    • We were stuck for 3.5 hrs w/ no explanation as to why. All we heard every 2-5 minutes was an annoying announcement that the ride was temporarily delayed. REALLY?!?!?! Made matters worse!!! EVERY 2-5 MINUTES for 3.5 HOURS!!!!! 🤬.

      • That must have been terrible. I saw these in testing and knew it was a disaster waiting to happen. They rushed it to completion, and chose to operate it with minimum wage employees.

    • Wow – can we get some more details about this from you? Maybe an interview from WDWNT staff?

      Did the aqua car crush into you as it was coming into the station? Or did it just stop and you all moved forward?

    • I wonder why it was down for the original 10 min? So your car was almost to the landing when it went down, then when it started up your car didn’t move but the one behind did, crushing yours against the one with open doors? The glass breaking is so scary and dangerous! Glad you’re all ok.

  10. That is why I won’t ride those things. I really don’t understand why Disney hasn’t improved their monorails and build more monorails instead of these flimsy gondola’s.

  11. Well, I knew this was bound to happen. I just didn’t think it would happen in less than a week after opening.

  12. Nice work Disney. Good preparation for any eventuality 👍🏼 . Part of the article mentioned Emergency black box with supplies, gives Disney high marks for care of your customers. Other nice touch would be to have an Emergency chain ladder to be released only on command by control station.

  13. The gondolas have an emergency kit with a human waste container? Could you imagine getting stuck with strangers and having to poop in a bag in front of them? Oh and with no ac or air flow? What a garbage idea that thing was from the get go. Can’t wait to ride it

  14. We were stuck in the station with no air for over 45 minutes that day after it opened. We were SCREAMING to have the doors opened as the temp inside was over 90 degrees. We were soaking wet and had NO AIR. The station attendants were freaking out and ignoring us. We had a handicap person onboard. We threatened to kick out the windows for air. After almost an hour, what seemed like a supervisor came by. TOTAL chaos with untrained employees not knowing what to do. FINALLY they got some sort of hook apparatus and stood in between our car and the next and popped the door open. We were sandwiched in between two cars at the station, so there was NO airflow. It was daytime and over 90 degrees. An employee told us that the computer system was “too sensitive”. If the computer crashed and got us stuck then WHY isn’t there a redundant computer that can automatically kick in. Hey Disney, it’s 2019, really!! We went to guest services at Epcot international gate. There was nothing they could do. (Not even a fast pass?). Between this, the INSANE price greed, the empty parks, Disney has lost its luster. I don’t think these problems are short term. I’m sure heads are rolling… Hey Disney, I get the no air conditioning, but are you too cheap to put in a low voltage, light weight fan system that kicks in over 85 degrees? What’s that going to add, 10lbs of weight? Bad, bad, HORRIBLE experience we’ll NEVER forget. I hope this turns into “Disney-gate” and gets fixed!

    – LONG TERM (since 1970’s) Disney guest.

    • I would sue if I were you that sounds extremely dangerous if this was July there would have been deaths there

  15. In 2017 while riding Mission Space at Epcot the force tore a hole in my dura causing my cerebral spinal fluid to leak. Has anyone else been injured in that way ?

    • That means the g forces on that ride aren’t safe and you didn’t sue any other theme park that would be shut down that means the G forces are over 6g’s which isn’t safe I know years ago a small boy did die on that ride

  16. My wife and I were on it on October 4th midday and we had a feeling like something may happen. My wife commented to me how the cars come in very fast and I begged her to go on the gondolas as she is afraid of heights. I feel bad for the poor people who have alot of anxiety about heights as that must have been very frightening to be in the air so long. I now wonder if people will be more hesitant on riding them and how long Disney will take to remedy this issue. How safe is safe?? I guess anything can happen at anytime as nothing is foolproof.

  17. Usually they would use a back-up motor to bring the cars into the stations, but because there was an accident they had no choice but to evacuate each car from height.

  18. This would be a design flaw with the company Walt Disney had design/ build. This is not the first time this has happen. These system are used all over the world at ski resort. I was stuck on one in Alberta. The system slows the gondolas down when they come into the station. By the looks of thing something in that system failed.

  19. Would love to visit Disney World,Always been a Dream if mine. I just could never afford it being a single Mother of 2 boys I’m now 55 years but would go in a heartbeat (I’m still young at heart.

  20. I knew something like this was going to happen, I just thought they could get more than 8 days of operation before it happened. I’m willing to bet that Disney did not do “real world testing” with full loadstontake into account loading and unloading times. I saw the gondolas in operation and my first thought is that they are way too close together.

    • I was there the week before they opened to the public. They ran test runs for employees (had to show photo ID to board) and their guests. Constant stream of riders; were allowed to ride the full circuit (have to change lines at Caribean Beach Resort to go from Epcot to the Studios. There are TONS of vloggers who rode and posted video. The entire month before that Disney ran empty cars. So they DID do “real world” testing. This was a system failure that the firm hired to install it needs to address. These gondolas are not unique to Disney. They are in operation all over the world. They also have separate load platforms for disabled riders versus able-bodied riders, as the primary system is an omnimover that never stops, just slows while inside the station. The disabled platform fully stops to allow slow loading. Do a little research before you comment!

      • Actually he isn’t wrong there supposed to do water dummy testing where they put water dummy’s in them like parks do when new coasters open up they test them with dummies to calculate weight it’s obvious Disney didn’t do it and they go way to fast into stations at six flags they crawl these are going to fast I called it weeks ago it would happen it’s not a failure it’s design flaw

  21. My daughter and granddaughter are going there tomorrow.God be with them and all the Mouse lovers🐭

    • They built a multi-level barge with an extendable ladder and bucket specifically to do water evacuations. They tested it during the summer several times. People posted pictures of the barge. You can google it I am sure.

  22. Actually, as a long-time Florida annual pass holder, after hearing there would be no air conditioning on the ride I voluntarily put myself in the no-fly list! This ride is a design disaster imagine being stuck in the sun for hours in May June July August September October which all have 90 degree temps and high humidity.

  23. Disney is so unbelievably cheap when it comes to compensating guests for terrible experiences. I’ve been so disappointed with them. There is no way they will compensate these poor people adequately. It’s such a shame.

  24. I loved the sky buckets, thought they were a great way to tour Disney Proper from a bird’s eye view. My wife and two girls (8 & 4) loved them as well.
    I’d be lying though if I didn’t wonder what it’d be like to get stuck on them for an hour or more. Being that we had a smooth ride, I enjoyed it.

  25. For everyone commenting that Disney should “compensate” the passengers whom were stuck on board, let me ask you a question.

    When the subway or AmTrack gets stuck, do they compensate you, especially “for life”?

    The correct answer is NO!

    The simple fact that you feel as though you deserve to be compensated is what is making the prices of EVERYTHING in life soar!

    Why do you all feel like someone owes you something all the time. So what? You were a little inconvenienced. Big Deal! Get over yourselves!

    Disney does right by those whom are TRULY inconvenienced. They always have.

    Just be thankful that no one was injured.

    :steps down off soapbox:

    • What are you smoking on the subways there is AC and you can evacuate and walk the tunnels these people were stuck 150 feet in the air in a box with no AC if this was July it could have easily killed a few people your comparing apples to oranges you can literally walk out of the subways you’re not 150 feet off the ground trapped without AC unlike these and people deserve something for being trapped hours not acceptable to have no AC in that heat allmost year round

  26. I wonder what part failed on the spacing mechanism, gondolas are pretty safe, ski resorts have used them for decades with no major issues. Maybe the culprit gondola was beyond it’s weight capacity?

  27. The skyliner is absolute garbage,
    We rode 8 times this past week, every single time it was delayed and/or we were left waiting in the massive queues while they ‘worked out the kinks’ in the new system, as the CMs would put it.
    maybe they could have worked out the kinks in the 9 months of testing they put it through

  28. I feel like every one is just complaining and going on and on. But what you guys don’t think is that this things are bound to happened and yes it’s sad and scary. But this will help them fix the issues so that it doesn’t happened again. We should be great full that our parks we love, creat amazing and magical Experiences and that we have the best Imaginers in the world that will keep bringing us Magic so seriously guys stop

  29. I used to go to Disneyland a lot back in the early “70s. The rides were continually breaking down. We tried three times, wasting about an hour each time, to ride the Haunted Mansion, but it kept breaking. Finally, we were walking by and saw people going in. We got on the ride as soon as we walked in, shortest Disney wait in history! Then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean. It broke while we were rolling through the restaurant. We got to sit there for about half an hour and watch people eat. Then, I think we tried to ride Splash Mountain, but it was broken, too, if I remember correctly. May have been the Matterhorn. Anyway, lots of wasted time on broken rides and we were never compensated squat! Just, “sorry folks, try again later”.
    That was back in the “E” ticket days. Who remembers those?

  30. Do they give the stuck people something. We couldn’t get our patio door open at wilderness lodge because we were stupid, and they gave us chocolate.

  31. No big deal. It happens all the time in smaller parks… It’s bound to happen occasionally at even the biggest parks, although it’s more unusual. At the smaller parks, it’s usually because the replace old parts with other old parts (had a couple of friends who worked repairing rides at 6 Flags and Kings Dominion). Being a new ride at Disney, I’m sure it’s just a glitch.

    • Rollercoasters getting stuck are way different you can easily walk down stairs these were stuck with no where out with AC in Florida heat and six flags and other parks have gotten rid of these things for this reason

  32. My wife and I were there just this past Saturday. Took the gondolas twice and never had a problem. It sucks that people got stuck in those things.But what really sucks are the people who are on here feeling the need to make comments about the newness of the ride, how everything is cheaply built, etc.
    Accidents happen. Break downs occur. Are they fun? No..well sometimes they are, but that’s not the point.

  33. I know panic creates a good headline, but honestly, I am impressed with how prepared Disney IS in such a scenario. As you reported earlier, there are emergency kits on each gondola. There is a water evacuation boat. They went through MONTHS of pilot testing before they ever opened to the public. I am truly surprised that anything went wrong, given Disney’s excessive planning, but such things can happen. When it did, they shut down the system, evacuated passengers, and from what I read in the Orlando Sentinel, compensated with free 4-day park tickets and a $200 gift card for their trouble. I know people love drama, and sadly, suing seems to be in the back of many people’s minds, hence more public drama. I hope that’s not the case here. I know I’ve been stuck on the monorail countless times, and no one freaks out about that. Yes, it’s inconvenient, but I can also look at it as part of the adventure. They Skyliner is new, so any glitches are going to be big news. P.S. We rode the Skyliner on opening day, and thought it was wonderful. I do hope it’s up and running again soon.

  34. “Yes, the emergency kit has exactly what we need for just this situation.. a notebook” maybe they can draw a ladder and climb down that way or better yet they could use the glow sticks as makeshift lightsabers since the ones at Disneyland cost $200

  35. Sad but Disney is failing epically these days. Anymore they’re so focused on profit margins you’re putting everything at risk and now the patrons that go to these parks are subject to this Fallout. Old Walt Disney would roll over in his grave if he could see what’s going on with his name these days.

  36. Shir happens people. If you ride something brand new you never know. Oh give them tickets for life because they were stuck for a few hours. If you weren’t hurt physically get over it. Things break down. If the train or the lynx bus breaks down it ok. You don’t hear people asking for free tickets for life. It’s only because it is Disney that it such a big deal. I had universal passes when Rip Ride Rocket first opened. That ride had people stuck in the air or broke down in the middle more than it was working when it first opened. Just because it Disney nothing is perfect people.

  37. This is disneys biggest blunder next to two star wars lands. It is aka disneys easy bake ovens. Who ever decided on this should be fired. Cant run when it rains , heavy winds, o wait what about in florida when it gets hot. What about when it gets hot and you have a 3.5 plus hour wait to be evacuated. I mean if you have to have water and a bag for human waste. This truly is a disney fail and it has only been open for a week.

    Billion dollar blunder. They could have done any other form of transportation any and it would’ve safer and more reliable.

  38. I miss the original skyline back in the late 70s 80s you went from one end of mk to the other in a few minutes. Sad some idiot let his kid climb up on the seat to look down and fell to their death. That’s why they closed it down this new system has too many cars on it and looks like it would be hot as hell in their

  39. I am very sorry for the people who were in the gondola crash and the people who were in the sky waiting for the evacuation

  40. Whoever is responsible for this should be punished to the fullest extent of law. My partner and I rode the gondola system on September 29th opening day, and during our multiple trips throughout the day we were in constant fear for our lives. We both felt that the units rode into the stations at an unnecessarily high rate of speed causing the both of us to scream in terror. At the end of the day it was decided that we would no longer utilize the gondola as form of transporting. It is quite obvious that the system was underfunded and rushed into service. Maybe if the money that Mr Iger has spent on Trump’s re-election would have been used to purchase the proper safeguards these flying death traps would no longer be causing harm to innocent families.

    • Every time you rode it you feared for your life?!? Personally, if I feared for my life on the first ride, why would I continue to ride it? I also rode it opening day and thought it was awesome!!

      • We used it to travel from our hotel to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios throughout the day. My partner and I refuse to utilize the Disney bus system. It is inefficient and is only good for causing unwanted stress. Also we don’t care to get crammed into one of those busses and have to come in close contact with individuals that, quite frankly put, have no business being on Disney property.

      • Well first they go to fast into stations
        Second no AC in Florida really there dangerous if this happened in July it would have been worse

      • That’s a troll you responded to. Give them a troll answer back so they have something to do today .

    • I also noticed the speed into stations was ridiculously too fast at six flags they crawl and not to mention no AC there death traps

  41. Lmfao….. People acting like it’s a national tragedy. Tell them to hang in there. Nothing they can do but hangout. WE WILL NEVER FORGET

  42. Next spring will be our 7th visit in a row. I’m not wanting to ride in those slow metal torture boxes when the buses are fairly fast and are air conditioned.

  43. I was on while it was stopped. Managed to hit the robot elbow several times and run up a new high score.
    Wait – upon reflection, that may have been the space ranger spin.

  44. Rode it yesterday and had a great time. Hey it’s life and thing do break, even new things. Like my GMC Tahoe at only 3000 or so miles the transmission had to be replace.

    • I know! The Skyline was only operating for 6 days and each day was more and more accidents. Should have more inspections until the MK 50th Anni opening.
      Jeez. Empire State Bldg only took 14 months and 1 inspection to build it. 100 years later and we are crippled in our own stupidipity.

  45. When I was younger my family and I got stuck on big thunder. On the upslope right under where the water comes down. We were stuck there for over an hour with the water just pouring down on us. After we realized it wasn’t going anywhere we asked if at least the water could be turned off. CM’s looked into it and a few minutes later we were just stuck but not getting water poured on us. After they finally evacuated all of us we were taken backstage where we were given new, dry, clothes while they tossed our wet ones in a dryer. to me as a child they did everything right. And still to this day I still ride big thunder multiple times every year while I’m there. Point is, things happen, Disney compensates accordingly and we all move on. This is nothing different.

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